Paper cup and holder



Feb. 26, 1957 r. ERON PAPER CUP AND HOLDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed NOV. 13, 1953 INVENTOR. THEODORE ERON 9W m M44 ATTORNEY Feb. 26,1957 T. ERON PAPER CUP AND HOLDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed NOV. 13, 1953 I INVENTOR. THEODORE ERQN BY ATTORNEYv rum States nite atent Ofitice 2,782,616 Patented Feb. 26, 1957 2,782,616 PAPER CUP AND HOLDER Theodore Eron, Englewood, N. J. Application November 13, 1953, Serial No. 391,991 9 Claims. (Cl. 65 61) This invention relates to improvements in paper cups, and particularly to an improved paper hot drink cup and holder therefor.

This application is a continuation-impart of copending application Serial No. 176,906, filed July 31, 1950, now abandoned.

While paper cups and dishes have a number of recognized advantages that have led to their widespread use for serving cold foods and beverages, the use of paper hot drink cups has been comparatively limited. For the most part, the paper hot drink cup has been used only where dish-washing facilities are not available, as at outdoor picnics, the serving of emergency food rations and the like. Only infrequently, if at all, does one find a paper hot drink cup used in restaurants, cafeteries or similar public eating places. On the other hand, paper cups and dishes are quite commonly used in such establishments for cold foods and beverages. It is not unreasonable to suppose that the reason for this difference in usage is to be found in the tastes and preferences of the eating public.

Investigation has shown that conventional paper hot drink cups are, in fact, considered objectionable by a great many people. One of the best. known paper hot drink cups that is typical in this respect is made of outwardly so that the user can hold the cup without burning his fingers. When hot liquids are placed in such a cup, it is found that the cup surface over which the liquids pass becomes soft and soggy, which some users dislike. Others object to a real or imaginary impairment of the taste of the beverage in such cups. Others find it difiicult to hold the cup by the paper handles.

In short, it can be stated that people are accustomed to drinking hot liquids from crockery cups, and it is difficult to overcome their antipathy to anything that does not resemble crockery quite closely from the standpoints of appearance, feel and handling characteristics. On the other hand, both the owners of public eating places and public health authorities have indicated that the sanitary and economic advantages of a disposable cup for hot beverages would induce widespread use of six 11 cups if a suitable type Were available.

It is accordingly, among the objects of the present invention to provide an improved paper cup for hot beverages that very closely simulates the conventional crockery cup in appearance, handling characteristics and the like, that is entirely sanitary, and that is extremely convenient to handle for the food server as well as for the user.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the inof the liquid-receiving part or ofthe part that will contact the users mouth. Also, the holder rigidly backs the lip portion of the liner so that the liner will not become limp even with the hottest beverage that normally will be served. Furthermore, the holder lends itself readily to inclusion of a double wall that serves as an insulator for retaining the heat of the beverage in the cup.

A more complete understanding of the invention, and of further objects and features thereof, can be had by reference to the following description of illustrative embodiments thereof, when considered in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure l is a side view, partly in section, of an assembled holder and paper liner embodying the invention,

Figure 2 shows a preferred form of blank from which to form the liner of the present invention,

Figure 3 shows a stack of nested liners and the manner in which the holder is applied to pick up a single liner,

Figures 57 are side views, partly in section, showing alternative forms of paper cup holders embodying the invention.

Referring to Figure l of the drawing, a cup assembly embodying the invention is shown to include a holder 18 comprising a hollow, cup-receiving body of plastic or the like, the cup-receiving opening in which is defined by an inner wall 12 which is joined at its upper and lower ends to an outer wall 14. A handle 16 projects laterally outwardly from the outer wall 14.

The inner wall 12 is of inverted truncated conical shape, tapering uniformly inwardly from the relatively wide open, top of the holder to the relatively narrow open bottom thereof. The lower portion 14:: of the outer wall 14, to which the handle 16 is attached, has a generally hemicomposed of the surfaces of the converging inner and outer walls. As is explained shortly, this wedge-like surface is cooperable with a similarly shaped annular meet at equal angles to a vertical (imaginary) line through the upper edge 18 of the holder. An alternative way of stating this is' that a line bisecting the angle between the surfaces of the inner and outer walls should be parallel with the axis of the cup body. Also, for proper wedging of the holder into the liner recess, the surfaces of the holder walls should meet at an acute angle.

Preferably, the inner and outer walls 12, 14 are separated, as shown, to enclose an insulating dead air space 20 for retaining the heat of the beverage in the cup. This not only keeps the beverage hot, but also protects the users hand. Also, it will be noted that the holder 10 is open at the bottom as well as the top, fora purpose to be brought out hereinafter.

The liner that is assembled with the holder 10 in accordance with the invention comprises a liquid-receiving holder inner wall A skirt 24 depends from the upper edge'of the body 22, and preferably is formed integral with the body. The skirt 24 tapers outwardly and downwardly from the liner body 22, and makes with the wall of the liner body an acute angle substantially equal to the angle between the surfaces of the upper portions of the inner and outer holder walls 12, 14b. There is thus provided around the outside of the upper portion of the liner body an inverted annular V-shaped recess corresponding closely to the surface shape of the upper portion of the holder 10.

' The body and skirt portions 22, 24 of the liner preferably are formed from a single blank 26 of the type shown in Figure 2. t can be seen that the blank 26 is shaped generally as a sector of a circular sheet from which a circular portion has been cut away at the center. Spaced inwardly from the outer edge 28 of the blank a distance equal to the desired width of the skirt (approximately the radial width of the sheet being preferred) is a score line 30 paralleling the outer edge 28 of the blank. This score line weakens the blank, providing a guide line along which the outer portion of the blank is bent downwardly to form the liner skirt as the radial edges 32, 34 of the blank are brought together during fabrication. One of the edges 32 is provided with sealing means such as cement, for sealing the blank in finally shaped form. A circular auxiliary blank 38, having an annular mounting flange 40, is sealed into place (see Figure l) to form a bottom for the liner.

When a blank of the form shown in Figure 2 is made up into a liner as shown in Figure l, the distorting force acting on the skirt strip 24 outside the score line 30 forces the skirt to assume an angle to the body wall 22 such that a line bisecting this angle will be parallel to the vertical axis of the liner body. It is for this reason that the surfaces of the holder walls 12, 14b preferably are formed at a similar angle, as previously indicated. Of course, if the skirt is made from a separate blank of different shape, glued to the liner body, this angular relationship can be varied, although such a multiple-blank construction is thought inferior as it requires extra form ing and assembly operations and also because of the location of the sealing area at the lip of the liner.

It is found that the V-shaped upper part of the holder body, when pressed firmly into the corresponding V-shaped channel or recess between the skirt and the body portion of the liner, will hold the two firmly assembled; so securely, in fact, that a single liner can be picked up from a nested stack by bringing the inverted holder down onto the stack of inverted liners, as illustrated in Figure 3, and lifting the holder away with the liner in place. It can readily be seen that this is an important sanitary feature. as it means that the person assembling the parts need never touch the liner, and'particularly that there need be no handling of the skirt portion of the liner that ultimately will come in contact with the users mouth. The sanitary advantages of this feature in preventing the transfer of communicable diseases are evident, as there is practically no chance of establishing a disease transfer chain from one person to another through the medium of the food server. Furthermore, substantially the entire mouth-contact portion (i. e., the skirt) of every liner in the inverted stack, except the bottom one, is completely protected at all times by the skirt of the adjacent liner in the stack until it is actually removed from the stack. This, too, is an important sanitary feature, as when the liner stack is kept on an open counter, for example, where it will be exposed to various possible sources of contamination. On the other hand, when the liner is to be removed from the holder after use, this can easily be accomplished by pressing with the finger against the bottom of the liner where the latter is exposed at the bottom of the holder.

Also, the open-bottomed holder with the completely unobstructed inner wall facilitates very rapid and thorough cleaning of the holder simply by running a swab through the holder.

When the holder and liner are assembled as in Figure 1, it is seen that the mouth-contacting skirt 24 is fully and securely hacked and supported by the holder wall section 14b. This feature is considered advantageous and preferable, as it eliminates the flimsy, insubstantial feel that is found objectionable by some persons in using conventional hot drink paper cups that frequently soften and give as they are held against the mouth. Also, if the liner body and skirt are made integral from a single blank, as described, it is found that it actually is unnecessary to glue the skirt portion of the contacting edges 32, 34 of the skirt. Upon bringing the edges of the blank together, the outer portion 24 of the blank beyond the score 30 is forced to assume the shape shown in Figure 1, as previously explained, with the adjacent edges of the skirt practically touching. When the liner is forced into the holder, the edges of the skirt are held snugly together by the tendency of the skirt portion to seek a small diameter and the opposing tendency of the holder wall surface 14b to force the skirt outwardly. Accordingly, if desired, no sealing compound need be used along the abutting edges of the skirt. This has some advantage in that faulty operation of the assembly mechanism may occasionally leave traces of glue along the edges of the skirt, which would, of course, be objectionable to many users.

While the liner and holder combination thus far described constitute the preferred embodiment of the invention for the reasons stated, it should be noted that many of the advantageous features of the invention also can be incorporated in modified embodiments thereof, as illustrated in Figures 4-7.

In Figure 4, there is shown a fragmentary view of the bottom portion of a holder corresponding to the holder illustrated in Figure l, with the exception that in the Figure 4 construction there is added to the inner wall 12 of the holder an inwardly projecting annular ridge or bead 42. This annular bead will supplement the gripping action of the V-shaped upper portion of the holder, already described, by slightly deforming and thereby partially interlocking with the liner. In most instances, it has been found that this supplemental gripping action actually is not required, although it is anticipated that it may be found beneficial with highly polished liner materials or the like.

Where it is considered unnecessary to have the insulating effect of the double wall holder construction of Figure 1, the holder may comprise a hollow body 44 with a cup-receiving opening of truncated conical shape as in the Figure 1 construction, but with a single continuous wall as illustrated in Figure 5. Alternatively, the holder may be formed with a full length inner wall 12 and only a partial outer wall 46 in the form of a skirt, as illustrated in Figure 6. In the Figure 6 embodiment, although both the insulating effect and the general resemblance to a crockery cup characterizing the Figure 1 construction are omitted, the full frictional wedging engagement between holder and liner is retained, as well as the full rigid backing for the liner, plus the various advantageous features already explained as pertaining primarily to the liner per se.

In all embodiments of the invention thus for described, it is noted that the holder and the liner have similarly V-shaped surfaces of complementary location that engage in wedge-like fashion to keep the holder and liner assembled. Although this complete engagement of the upper portions of the holder and liner is considered preferable, both because of the more secure frictional engagement of the parts and because of the complete rigid backing provided for the relatively thin-walled inner, it is not entirely essential. To take advantage of the sanitary features of the liner in a cup for cold beverages, for example, where there is less likelihood of the liner being softened by the beverage, the holder may take the form shown in Figure 7, in which there is illustrated a holder embodying the invention and comprising a body having a truncated conical wall 12 from the upper part of which there projects outwardly an annular ring 46. for the holder to function properly in holding a liner securely in place, it is only necessary that the outer between the skirt and the body of the liner. With this arrangement, as in the embodiments of the invention previously described, the upper portion of the holder will engage the liner skirt undersurface and the outside of the liner body with a wedge-like action to hold the liner securely in place.

What is claimed is:

1. A holder for a disposable paper cup of the type comprising a liquid-receiving body having the shape of said holder comprising a hollow cup-receiving body having an inside wall surface tapering uniformly from a relof said holder body.

3. A holder as defined in claim 1 wherein said holder body comprises a single wall that is relatively thick about the central portion of said body.

4. A holder as defined in claim 1 wherein there is provided on the inside surface of said holder body near the lower end thereof an inwardly projecting annular bead.

5. An improved drinking cup assembly comprising, in combination, a holder comprising an upright, hollow, liner-receiving body that is open both at top and bottom, said body having a relatively steep inside wall surface of inverted truncated conical shape and an outside wall surface disposed at an acute angle to said inside wall surface at the upper'part of said body and meeting said inside surface at the upper edge of said body, in a narrow sharp edge, the upper portion of said outside wall surface being of upright truncated conical shape whereby to cooperate with said inside wall surface to form therewith an annular, wedge-like section, and a flexible, thin-walled paper liner for said holder comprising a first-mentioned acute angle to form with said liner body an inverted, annular V-shaped recess for receiving said wedge-like section with a tight-fit, whereby friction gripping of said holder body by said liner body and skirt will be had upon axially thrusting said holder onto said liner.

6. An improved liner holder comprising an upright, hollow, liner-receiving body that is open both at top and bottom, said body having a relatively steep, continuous inside wall surface of inverted truncated conical shape adapted to serve as a continuous rigid backing for a liner having a side wall, said liner having a closed bottom, said liner-receiving body further having at its upper end an outside wall surface which extends out- Wardly and downwardly from the upper edge thereof at an acute angle to said inside wall surface, the upper porly therefrom at an angle approximately equal to said first-mentioned acute angle, the tight fit between said inner and outer upper surfaces of the liner and said body being adapted to provide frictional gripping action'whereby the liner can be picked up by merely axially thrusting the body onto the inverted liner.

7. The invention defined in claim 6 wherein said outside wall surface is provided by an annular skirt depending from the upper edge of said wall and flaring outwardly therefrom at said acute angle.

8. An improved liner holder comprising an upright, hollow, liner-receiving body that is open both at top and bottom, said body having a relatively steep,

adapted to provide a rigid liner backing surface, said liner-receiving body further having at its upper end an outside wall surface which extends outwardly and downwardly from the upper edge thereof at an acute angle to said inside wall surface, the upper portion of said outwhereby to form with said inside wall surface an annular wedge-shaped section, said wedge-shaped section being skirt depending outwardly and downwardly therefrom at an angle approximately equal to said first-mentioned acute angle, the tight fit between said inner and outer upper surfaces of the liner and said holder body being adapted to provide both rigid backing for the liner skirt and frictional gripping action whereby a liner can be picked up by merely axially thrusting the body onto the inverted liner.

9. In a cup-and-holder assembly, in combination, a disposable paper cup having a liquid receiving body shaped as an inverted truncated cone that is closed at its narrow lower end, and a skirt depending from the upper edge of said body and flaring outwardly and downwardly therefrom at an acute angle to said body to define between said body and said skirt an inverted annular V- shaped recess, and a holder comprising a hollow cupreceiving body having an inside wall surface tapering uniformly from a relatively wide, open upper end to a relatively narrow, open lower end, and said holder body further having an outside wall surface the lower portion of which is of spherical curvature and the upper portion of which tapers upwardly and inwardly to the upper edge of said holder body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,035,718 Marsters et al. Aug. 13, 1912 1,057,426 Heyl Apr. 1, 1913 1,114,122 Curtin Oct. 20, 1914 1,192,824 Bohlman July 25, 1916 1,303,171 Curtin May 6, 1919 1,389,594 Moore Sept. 6, 1921 1,502,245 Green July 22, 1924 1,515,151 Curtin Nov. 11, 1924 1,750,568 Carew Mar. 11, 1930 1,917,953 Davis July 11, 1933 2,054,934 Graffenberger Sept. 22, 1936 2,213,837 Gill Sept. 3, 1940 2,493,633 Mart Jan. 3, 1950 2,509,132 Carew May 23, 1950 2,552,051 Margulies May 8, 1951 2,672,742 Amberg Mar. 23, 1954 

